Weaver returns to West Texas roots at tourney

Published: Saturday, July 31, 2004

DON WILLIAMSAVALANCHE-JOURNAL

DeWitt Weaver Jr. made a name for himself in golf in the Deep South, being a seven-time Georgia PGA champion. But he made the connection to the game in West Texas, growing up the son of a Texas Tech football coach.

Weaver, 64, returned to his childhood home and shot 77 on Friday in the second annual pro and celebrity tournament at the Jerry S. Rawls course.

Weaver, a seniors and Champions Tour player since 1989, moved to Lubbock at age 11. He thought of it as home for the next 10 years, even after he'd gone off to college at Southern Methodist.

JIM WATKINS * AVALANCHE JOURNAL

Entertainer Mac Davis, left, chats with Lubbock businessman Del Bass, right, before the start of the second annual pro and celebrity tournament at the Jerry S. Rawls course.

His father coached the Red Raiders from 1951-60.

"My dad, they gave him a membership at Lubbock Country Club when I was 13," Weaver said. "He let me out, and I fell in love with the game. I played 36 holes to 54 holes every day. I even played golf from Hillcrest (Country Club) to Lubbock Country Club one day; I just went cross country through the cotton fields."

Weaver won twice on the PGA Tour  at the U.S. Professional Match Play Championship in 1971 in North Carolina and the Southern Open in 1972. To conquer the 64-man match-play bracket, he beat, in order, George Archer, Julius Boros, Doug Sanders, Lou Graham, Bruce Crampton and Phil Rodgers.

His U.S. Professional Match Play title garnered special attention, thanks to entertainer Mac Davis, a fellow Lubbock High graduate who had his own television variety show at the time.

"Mac Davis, on national television on his show said, 'Well, I see where ol' DeWitt won a tournament on the tour,' " Weaver said. "And he said, 'You know, back in high school, I sang and he was a golfer and they thought we were kind of like sissies. Now everybody wishes they were sissies.' "

Davis is also playing the Rawls Course this weekend  both Friday's round and today's round. He was honored Friday with a reception at the National Ranching Heritage Center, and today is Mac Davis Day in Lubbock.

In 1976, four years after his Southern Open victory, Weaver quit the PGA Tour at age 36 because he thought family life was more important. His four children ranged in age from 2 to 13 at the time.

Thirteen years later, Weaver went back to qualifying school for the seniors tour, angling for one of eight slots available. He shot a final-round 62 in Palm Springs, Calif., to make it.

"That was a $3 million 62, because that's what I made," Weaver said, referring to his earnings over the past 15 years. "I made $3.4 million on the senior tour."

Weaver said he didn't regret leaving the PGA Tour in his prime. Being a husband and a father came first, Weaver said, so giving up the travel was an easy decision.

"It was at the time," he said, "because I valued all of that more than I did playing."

Nowadays, Weaver lives in Braselton, Ga., but says he retains a fondness for Lubbock.

After he graduated from Lubbock High in 1958, Weaver decided to go to SMU to play football and golf rather than play for his dad's team.

It was nothing against Tech or Lubbock. The elder Weaver was in the firing line as head coach, and his son would have been in the spotlight as a potential quarterback.

"We decided if he played me, that wouldn't be good," Weaver said. "And if he didn't play me, that wouldn't be good. So I went to SMU.

"And also, with my golf and thinking about a golf career, he thought Dallas at the time might be better because of all the courses they had there. That was the reasoning behind it. But I always had a special love for this place."